Alexandria: The Rebel Princess

Chapter 3 - Part 2

Papers shuffle across the table under our hasty movements. Tossing them into the fires of the hearth, they curl and pop in rebellion of being turned to soot. Clumping them into a pile, Jeremy leans forward, gathering more and hurling them towards the flames. They flutter across the space between the hearth and the table, falling into the fire.

Jeremy glances back at me, his vein pulsing on his forehead in panic. He scans the room and glances at me once more as if struggling to make a decision. His eyes land on the chest and he grabs more papers tossing them behind him. "Open the chest, grab the bow now," he commands hastily.

Staring at the chest that Tristan had housed their weapons inside, I murmured, "I don't understand."

"We will need all the help we can get, if the Mountain Blades taught you, then it's worth the risk," he hollers.

Dashing across the room, I gather what arrows I could tossing them into the chunky quiver laying inside. Flinging it over my shoulder, I snatch the bow from the chest and slam it shut.

The door rips open, slamming against the wall, and we froze from the intrusion. Tristan hung in the doorway, dripping with sweat, his heavy breaths filing our fearful silence. Turning with more papers in my hands, Tristan grabs my arm and spins me to a standstill. Worry and dread drips between us, swirling into our mixing breaths.

"Let's go," Tristan commands. Pulling me towards the door, he grabs the papers from my grasp and throws them to the floor.

"The maps," I cry out, reefing on Tristan's tight hold.

Jeremy tosses a torch at the pile of papers on the floor and I scream, stepping back into Tristan's embrace.

"Burned," Jeremy mutters.

The floor lifts with flames and Tristan hoists me up off the ground, placing me into the hallway. "Run now," he yells with a shove.

Tristan and Jeremy pull torches off the wall. Dragging them along the walls in their passing, they burst into flames from such brittle and dry wood. The flames rise towards the ceiling, burning with a vicious warmth. Tristan continuously shoves me towards the stairs.

"What are you doing?" I gasp.

"Torching the place," Jeremy snaps, "get out! The girls will meet you outside."

My eyes widened in disbelief, those moans and cries, of course they were from those women. What if one hadn't gotten out yet? "No!" I cried, diving at Tristan, and clinging to the torch in his hand. Yanking with all might I try to pry it from him. "What if there are people in there?"

"Go! Chloe," Tristan shoves me away. Falling back onto the floor, I scurry towards a closed door and yank it open. Tristan roars in my defiance, "Jeremy get her out of here!"

A cold emptiness blasts into my face from the bare room, not a soul was inside. These women had housed us for days, and now they would die because of it. Outside in the open, they would be sentenced for aiding the rebellion, for hiding me! An arm slings around my waist and drags me away from the door. Grabbing the doorframe, I hang there fighting their hold. Tristan grabs my wrists and his intense stare freezes me. "Enough," he hisses.

Jeremy tugs me back and Tristan's hold releases me easily. Jeremy bounds down the steps, halling me away, and Tristan tosses his torch to the other side of the brothel before racing down the stairs after us.

The door is flung open and Beatrice waves us frantically forward. Jeremy races out and I dig my heels into the ground, fighting to get back into the fires. With a huff, Jeremy scoops me up, and my world flips upside down. Painfully, my stomach digs into his shoulder and the brothel bounces around in my vision. Darkness chills the lower levels leaving a haunting feeling from the windows. A bright orange glow fills the upper windows.